But this paper will argue that there is no justification for regulating the collection and use of data by the private sector. Regulations intended to protect privacy by outlawing or restricting the transfer of consumer information would violate rights of free speech. The formal mechanisms that businesses have developed to transfer information about consumers, borrowers, and other businesses serve valuable economic and social purposes formerly served by person-to-person informal information networks.

NOT ALLOWING ONE BUSINESS TO FREELY COMMUNICATE WITH ANOTHER MEANS THE SOCIETY NO LONGER HAS OPEN INFORMATION AT ITS CORE

Solveig Singleton, director of information studies at the Cato Institute, January 22, 1998 Cato Policy Analysis No. 295 PRIVACY AS CENSORSHIP: A Skeptical View of Proposals to Regulate Privacy in the Private Sector

Regardless of how one defines privacy, "one aspect of privacy is the withholding or concealment of information."(38) A country that takes the freedom of information seriously cannot properly prohibit one business from communicating information about real events and real people to other businesses. If one buys a lawn mower from Sears, the sale of the lawn mower is an actual event involving a real person. The view that information such as the purchaser's name, address, and buying habits should not be recorded and transferred without his consent conflicts with the general rule that facts and ideas, including our names and addresses, remain free for all to collect and exchange. Attempts to restrict the transfer of information thus run headlong into our rights to free speech.(39)

IF WE STOP BUSINESSES FROM SHARING INFORMATION WE DENY THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION IN GENERAL AND IS A DIRECT THREAT TO FREE SPEECH

A country that takes the freedom of information seriously cannot properly prohibit one business from communicating information about real events and real people to other businesses. If one buys a lawn mower from Sears, the sale of the lawn mower is an actual event involving a real person. The view that information such as the purchaser's name, address, and buying habits should not be recorded and transferred without his consent conflicts with the general rule that facts and ideas, including our names and addresses, remain free for all to collect and exchange. Attempts to restrict the transfer of information thus run headlong into our rights to free speech.